Couples socializing site and method

ABSTRACT

A socializing site between companion seeking individuals in the form of an open public meeting place wherein every present member is allocated a serial number, clearly viewed by all members. The members have access to a communication system enabling each member to contact another member by his/her serial number and exchange voice or text messages. A separate section of the meeting place is designed for hosting pairs of members who wish more close acquaintance.

Making the first contact between men and women or any other pair ofindividuals is and has always been a psychological and emotionalproblem. It is traditionally expected that the men are supposed to makethe first move. This can be seriously embarrassing for shy and notself-confident individuals, and sometimes also for the contacted party,turning down the approach.

To surmount this situation a large variety of solutions have beenproposed, from the so-called “Pick-up Bars” to telephone or Internetbased services. These processes still possess obvious drawbacks.

The present invention offers a novel method of communication betweencompanion seeking individuals in a comfortable atmosphere and closerover-view conditions and, above all, without risking their privacy(name, picture, telephone number or e-mail address) unless and untilthey decide to do so.

The method is base on the following principles:

-   -   The parties are able to inspect each other before establishing a        closer contact therebetween;    -   The contacted party can reject the offered contact in a fully        discreet manner, which will not cause any embarrassment to        neither of the parties.    -   If the contacted party accepts the offer to get closer to the        contact initiating party, both can still keep their identity in        secret from each other.    -   The following, closer acquaintance will be held in public, until        both parties decide otherwise.

The implementation of the method is as follows.

In a nicely decorated, coffee-house-like place there will be included afirst, “invitees” section, a second, “invitors” section, and a third,“acquaintance” section.

The invitees section (see FIG. 1) will comprise a circular or ellipticalring R of single seats numbered 1,2,3 . . . arranged around a barcounter C.

The second section will, in any suitable fashion, surround the firstsection. In the example illustrated in FIG. 1, two galleries G₁ and G₂are placed. Members occupying the seats (marked A, B, C . . . ) willthus have a clear view over the seats of the first section, andvise-versa.

Drinks and food will be served by waiters as usual.

The third section of the coffee-house will be in the form of a nicelydecorated hall with twin seats and tables (not shown).

A closed-loop telephone network connects all seats of the first andsecond sections, enabling every one of the invitors to send ashort-message-signal (SMS or other message) to any one of the invitees,and vise-versa.

Once an inviter decides to make contact with an invitee (or the otherway round), he or she will dial her/his seat number (or character) andoffer, in writing, to get together in the conversation section. Thecalled party will be able to trace the call by the seat number of thecalling party, and, after inspecting the calling party, may eitheraccept the invitation (with or without additional SMS exchange), orreject it; preferably the rejecting party will also be able to block theother party from repeated calls in order to avoid continuing harassment.

If she/he accepts the invitation, the pair will join each other at theacquaintance section.

The above described stages are represented by the flow-chart of FIG. 2.

The personal telephones will also serve for ordering customer's service.

In a more advanced version of the present invention, the communicationbetween all customers of the coffee-house will be established by anIntranet, local network while using their personal cell-phones. Thecell-phones, with a special adaptation facilities will be supplied (orupgraded) by one of the major manufacturers such as NOKIA (“ConnectingPeople” . . . ), who will also sponsor the line of coffee-houses to bedeveloped all over the world in a unique style.

The layout of this improvement is schematically shown in FIG. 3 andneeds no further explanation.

1. For use as a socializing site between companion seeking individuals,an open public meeting place wherein every present member is allocated aserial number, clearly viewed by all members, all members having accessto a communication system enabling each member to contact another memberby his/her serial number.
 2. The meeting place as claimed in claim 1wherein the serial numbers are associated with the member's seats. 3.The meeting place as claimed in claim 2 wherein the seats are dividedinto two groups.
 4. The meeting place as claimed in claim 3 wherein thegroups are formed as concentric circles of ellipses rows of seats. 5.The meeting place as claimed in claim 4 wherein the seats of the outerrow are placed at a level higher than the level of the inner row.
 6. Themeeting place as claimed in claim 5 wherein the seats of one of the rowsare designated for women and the seats of the other row are designatedfor men.
 7. The meeting place as claimed in claim 1 wherein thecommunication system enables the members to exchange text messages. 8.The meeting place as claimed in claim 7 wherein the communication systememploys the personal cell-phones of the members.
 9. The meeting place asclaimed in claim 8 wherein the communication system enables the membersto order services such as drinks or food, for themselves or for othermembers.
 10. The meeting place as claimed in claim 1 comprising anadditional section designed for hosting the members seated in pairs forthe purpose of more close acquaintance.